On September 14, 2016 in Ormoc City, Leyte, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry and PLDT SME Nation held the 25th annual Visayas Area Business Conference in cooperation with the City Government of Ormoc and the Ormoc City Chamber of Commerce & Industry Incorporated, bringing together over five hundred of Eastern Visayas’ local business owners and local government representatives.
“Change” was the topic on the agenda of the three day event as speakers from the different Commerce & Industry chambers, surrounding local government units and sponsors came to underline and reiterate its importance and significance to Filipino Entrepreneurs.
A son of Ormoc and an outspoken advocate on the importance of technology in today’s business landscape, PLDT Vice President and Head of SME Nation, Mitch Locsin led the forum on technology’s ability to both elevate and greatly equalize the field for entrepreneurs.
“It doesn’t take much,” Locsin says, citing examples such as Uber and AirBnB, companies skyrocketed into global giant-status through technology. “Entrepreneurs today need only leverage on the thousands of readily available and affordable innovative solutions out there to become something revolutionary and groundbreaking.”
“And the great thing is new innovations are created each day, disruption is happening at an unprecedented rate, faster than people have time to adopt them, giving entrepreneurs more and more resources to grow their business and truly make it big,” he says.
Joining Locsin was PLDT SME Nation’s Head of Community Partnerships, Francis Oliva.
“Technology affords every Filipino entrepreneur to be at par w any company, even in more developed countries,” Oliva says. “Technology makes business operations more efficient and helps the owners focus on their core competencies. And that is why we at PLDT are committed to provide not just connectivity, but the whole technology ecosystem to the SMEs.”
The continuation of a greater initiative, PLDT SME Nation alongside the PCCI and its Eastern Visayan arm, the Ormoc City Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc, the Visayas Area Business Conference continues its efforts towards nation building. An ideal, Mitch Locsin says, is crucial to the teclo giant’s activities.
“We take every opportunity to say this—and furthermore, every opportunity to put it into practice—because it’s true, as an industry leader, we believe it’s our responsibility to affect change and help Filipino entrepreneurs make it big. It’s who we are,” Locsin says.